We logged onto our Instagram profiles last night to discover its live video feature is in full swing. Hurrah!

And it’s as easy as swiping right then tapping `Start Live Video`. Once you’ve started to film, your followers will be notified and can tune in.

Positioned on the top bar alongside Instagram Stories, each video is displayed in a bubble format adorning a bold pink stamp. This helps us to differentiate a Story between a Live, but makes sense to have them paired together for easy viewing.

We‘re not surprised that Instagram has announced plans to slot adverts in between its user-generated feature, Instagram Stories. After accumulating over 150 million daily active users since last August, we can only resonate with the confidence behind their bold move to generate more business. Losing general active users will not come into play, considering Instagram Stories holds 50% of the company’s total user base.¹ Pfffft, Snapchat who?

With a growing number of users searching for information through social, businesses are adapting their advertising strategies to communicate with potential customers in new ways. However, the cost of advertising on social media, particularly Facebook, has risen to a price small businesses and start-ups cannot afford. What else is there, beyond the ol’ Facebook ad?

Social media marketing is a form of digital marketing which many businesses are adopting. Whether you’re just starting up or you’re three years into business, social media is a great way to engage with customers, develop brand awareness and increase leads. Surprisingly many businesses aren’t making the most of the opportunities which social media is giving them. We’ve put together 7 of the deadliest social media mistakes and put forward a few ways you can try and improve your social media marketing technique.

There are now around 2.3 Billion social media users and 91% of brands are now using social media* as a part of their integrated marketing strategy; however how many of those brands are really using social media correctly?

Finally! It’s possible for businesses small and large to get in front of Instagram’s 14 million monthly active users after paid for advertising has officially been rolled out across the platform.

Instagram is a great way of building a story, whether it be of your everyday life, or, increasingly, of the business you work for. Integrating Instagram into your brand’s paid marketing approach may be just what your company needs to strengthen its brand building, reach a wider audience, and produce significant business growth. According to Instagram, their users are 2.8x as likely to recall your ad compared with other forms of online advertising, something to keep in mind when planning your digital marketing strategy.

5 TIPS FOR INSTAGRAM AD SUCCESS

1) INTEGRATE

Step one – Integrate your Instagram adverts with your other digital activity to track the results of the campaign, compare with other platforms and evaluate the relevancy on a regular basis to determine what works best.

Levi’s were one of the first brands to trial Instagram ads and the results paid off. The classic American retailer used Instagram to style its apparel as the uniform for living in the moment, reaching 7.4 million people. In addition, 24% of people who saw more than one ad remembered seeing a Levi’s® ad. “Not only were we able to reach a large audience with our ads on Instagram, but the metrics clearly show we engaged with them in a memorable and authentic way,” said Julie Channing, Levi’s director of digital.

2) GET FAMILIAR WITH THE AD OPTIONS

Image Ads

With image ads, businesses can tell their story through beautiful imagery. Whether it’s inspiring people to see your brand differently or to take action, they offer a clean, simple and beautiful creative canvas.

Capital One put imagery at the center of their five-week long #WalletStories campaign by re imaging their well known “What’s in Your Wallet?” tagline and encouraging people to open their wallets and share the keepsakes and memories they carry with them. The brand tapped 3 popular
photographers to document these stories with original, authentic creative. As a result, Capital One achieved a significant 16 point lift in ad recall, 2.5x higher than Nielsen’s norms for online campaigns, which helped the banking brand elevate their awareness among their audience.

Video Ads

Video ads offer the same visually immersive quality as photo ads on Instagram — with the power of sight, sound and motion. And now, you can share videos up to 30 seconds long and in landscape format.

Birchbox created an Instagram video campaign capturing the surprise and delight of the monthly beauty subscription. Showcasing their upbeat editorial style and quality products, the 15-second videos made a big impact on potential customers, dramatically boosting brand awareness with its target audience.

Carousel Ads

Carousel ads bring an additional layer of depth to image ads. People can swipe to see additional images and a call to action button takes them to a website to learn more.

This carousel ad by Tesco Food encourages the user to continue swiping in order to reveal the full image. This is a great example of drawing in a user through a story, a very delicious one at that!

3) MAKE A VISUAL IMPACT

Using an amazing image will stop a user from scrolling right past your advert. Choose wisely!

“It’s not just about posting something and taking a picture; we put a lot of craftsmanship into all our posts. For me it’s all about the visual identity of the brand. Images speak a thousand words and that’s the mindset we need to take on for all our work in social media.” – Wise words from Emma Page, Audi’s digital communications manager as they plan to get more visual with a focus on a big Instagram push into 2016.

4) MAKE YOUR WEBSITE MOBILE-FRIENDLY

As Instagram is specifically geared towards mobile browsing, it is important to lead users who click on your adverts to a mobile optimised landing page, for a seamless and engaging experience.

5) USE BRANDING

Unlike Facebook, Instagram allows you to apply over 20% text to your ad image, this might include your logo or tag line. It’s key to have branding elements present in paid media images and video to enhance ad recall.

Turkish Airlines took to Instagram in early February for four weeks with its #EpicFood campaign. Keeping the logo subtly in the background, and focusing on the food itself led to a 28 point lift in ad recall and 13 point lift in brand awareness.

How Do Instagram Adverts Work?

There are over a Billion people now on FB and you can reach just about anyone you can think of whether there on their phone, tablet or desktop. Many advertisers think that Google is the main way to reach consumers but with its lower costs, higher penetration and engaging content creation FB is proving to be a more effective advertising channel. Facebook has just expanded it’s fantastic targeting and Data integration options to now include new UK audiences. Read this Infographic for some tips and advice on how to super charge your FB campaigns and reach new UK consumers.

Acquiring new customers is essential for business growth, so knowing where to find them and what works is not just useful; it’s essential.

Come and join us and the DMA at London’s Ham Yard Hotel on 15th October and be amongst the first to learn what your potential customers feel strongly about. Are they prepared to be acquired? What are the best messages and channels that turns them from a prospect in to a customer?

The DMA launched the first Customer Acquisition Barometer in 2014, looking at what was most important to consumers when brands want their business.

At the time, the Social Media Marketing Industry Report from Social Media Today pointed out that while 54% of marketers were using the channel, 65% wanted to learn more about it, with 61% planning on increasing activities on the platform.

This came about as Google+ announced it would allow YouTube users the ability to import videos from their account in a move to make it easier for users to backup videos, as part of its mission to be the “social spine” for other Google products. All fine and dandy then.

A SHORT-LIVED ROMANCE

…Well, up until now. It seems there has been trouble in social media paradise as Google announced that it will no longer treat Google+ as its digital glue.

“People have told us that accessing all of their Google stuff with one account makes life a whole lot easier. But we’ve also heard that it doesn’t make sense for your Google+ profile to be your identity in all the other Google products you use.

“So in the coming months, a Google Account will be all you’ll need to share content, communicate with contacts, create a YouTube channel and more, all across Google. YouTube will be one of the first products to make this change.” – Bradley Horowitz, Google’s VP of Streams, Photos & Sharing.

For those who were against the integration of YouTube comments with Google+, this news will be welcomed with open arms after the initial backlash when this feature was revealed.

THE FUTURE: ROSY OR BLEAK?

From a marketer’s perspective, it seems that even with the backing of the giant that is Google, this doesn’t guarantee the success of a social channel. Within such a fast changing environment and the likes of more instant apps like SnapChat, WhatsApp and Instagram leading the way, it’s been a tough time for Google+ in terms of keeping up and winning users over.

Should Google have known from the start that it is pretty much impossible to compete with the likes of Facebook? Perhaps, but this move raises the question: is this the end of Google+ as a channel, or could it now survive and grow in its own right? It depends on whether Google lets go of Google+ and keeps or loses the data that comes with it…

At TMO we have been active on our Google+ account for quite some time, and will continue to use it as a means of sharing content and engaging in communities. It will be interesting to see what happens over the next few months in this ever changing social media world.

What are your thoughts, from both a user and marketer point of view? We’d love to know – tweet us @TheMediaOctopus or comment on the post below.